Countdown to school in 3, 2, 1…. AHHHHHH!
Our first day of school is Wednesday. I am always much more excited about the first day of school than my kids. With school comes order, routines, set bedtimes and a red pen. I love writing with a red pen, but feel silly writing with one on anything other than school papers.
I have spent the last week copying, cutting, organizing, stacking, sorting, purging, and anything else needed to be ready for school. Some of the things I did this week were;
Lapbooks- Two of my boys will be using Government and the Election Process lapbook which I downloaded from Currclick. I wanted to get the lapbooks ready for the first day so we didn’t spend school time assembling the folders. We are also using a lapbook for Exploring Creation with Zoology 1.
I am not an expert in making lapbooks, but here is what I did for our two subjects.
The Government unit required a three folder lapbook.
I took my three folders, opened them and then folded them into the middle.
I then glued the outside flap of one folder to the outside flap of another folder.
Repeat with the other folder.
What I love about this unit study is that they suggest the placement of all the items you are to glue in. Last year I had a few kids run out of space because we weren’t sure how many items would go into the lapbook.
I then made a lapbook for our Zoology unit. My plan is to make one lapbook per nine weeks.
Since these books will be smaller I used one folder. I opened the folder and folded it into the middle as I did with the first project. Then I taped a piece of cardstock to the top and bottom of the middle part.
Flashcards-I printed and cut out our flashcards for science. If anyone is using the Apologia elementary curriculum and not using the book extras you are missing out! They have all sorts of great links and resources on the site. You should find a web address and password inside your textbook on one of the first pages.
Folders- While we were on our back to school shopping spree I picked up 4 folders (one for each school aged child) in 4 different colors. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them, but they were $0.10 each or something ridiculous like that, so I bought them.
I decided to make them into a sort of in/out box for each child.
At the beginning of the week I will put any papers or forms that need to be completed in the “to do” side of the folder. When they finish with the paper they move it to the “completed” side. All papers should be in the “completed” section by Friday afternoon. Most of the papers in this folder will be things they can do independently.
Forms- I also worked on many forms this week, which are available for you to download and use if you would like.
Field Trip Log (pdf)
Field Trip Log (doc)
Field Trip Brainstorming Page (pdf)
I also cleaned out and organized my school shelves, which needs to be a separate post. I hope to get that up by Wednesday. I hope that my tackling days will soon be over thanks to my new Motivated Moms Planner. You can read all about it here.
Visit Mary for more Friday Show and Tell, and for more Talk about Tuesday visit Lara.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
You are amazing! I homeschooled for 13 years, but was never was organized as you seem to be. Congratulations on your good work. The kids will thank you for it when they are older!
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Wow, that is dreative. I am going to need pointers once my daughter gets to that age level!
Stop by my tackle which is similar to the mountain we climbed in Maine last week!
http://www.lifeislikechampagneblog.com/
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You are so organized! You have some really neat ideas, especially the lapbooks – I had never seen those before.
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Oh, I love your completed and to do folder idea!! I think I need to try that.
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You have been busy!!
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Way to go. You are so organized.
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Wow! You have been busy!! Looks great!
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You really have been busy getting ready! I am trying to get used to lap books. Thanks for the tutorial on folding them. Good luck with starting school back!
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That looks like a TON of work…great job!
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I love red pens, too! Ever tried purple? It’s the new color among public schools because it doesn’t do as much damage to self esteem. Really!
I’ve added your post to the Carnival of Homeschooling. Thanks!
Carol Topp
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Wow you are ready to go! I am just getting to the lapbook stuff. We switched history curriculum so will be lapbooking alot of that. I love having them premade and ready. My kids enjoy doing this with me.
I still have to do many small things before tuesday! Great reminder!
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I too have been hs’ing for a long time ((11 yrs)) and I have never been as organized as this. I am taking notes !!! Thank you sooooooo much for sharing !
Blessings and ((HUGS)) in Him<
-Mary
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I have been thinking about using lapbooks for the first time this year, but I’m intimidated. Apparently I just need to dive it and do it. Thanks for the inspiration!
Have a lovely holiday weekend~
Shani
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It looks like you are organized and ready for a great school year. I love doing lapbooks. Anything that adds to hands on learning is wonderful.
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I’ve thought about lapbooking, I’ve just never tried. Maybe this will be the year.
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I’m so glad I read this! I had completely forgotten about the Apologia website and we are on the 2nd chapter of Swimming Creatures. Thanks so much for the reminder!
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